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Last week we had a three-day week to contend with. Now we have a four-day week thanks to the New Year holiday on 1st January. There was still trading on New Year’s Eve though, so with that in mind let’s focus on what did happen last week as we said goodbye to one year and hello to the next.

An overview of the currency markets for December 29th – January 2nd 2015

As always the first stop is with the British pound against the US dollar. Here we started the week with a rate of 1.5535. This was soon improved upon as the pound climbed to 1.5553 on Monday. The next day saw a drop but Wednesday saw another leap in the right direction as the pound finished off 2014 on 1.5587. After the New Year celebrations things were back to normal on Friday. However 2015 didn’t start well for the pound as it dropped to 1.5439 against the US dollar. Not the best start – and not one we were hoping for.

Could we reasonably expect something similar against the euro? The pound began the week on 1.2714 here and did improve on day one too, climbing to 1.2751 in the process. Indeed it seemed determined to make the most of what remained in 2014, as the pound improved over the next couple of days too. As a result it finished 2014 on 1.2838 with just one day remaining in the week. 2015 revealed a drop in its performance on Friday though, as it closed on 1.2820 on 2nd January.

It’s off to Hong Kong now as the pound put in another pretty good performance to close out the old year. Starting on 12.058, the three days of trading left in the old year saw two good days balancing out one bad one. This meant we had the chance to climb to 12.090 on New Year’s Eve. After a day to recover from the celebrations, the pound didn’t do so well recovering – it dropped to 11.974 on Friday as the New Year began in earnest on the currency markets.

Over in New Zealand the pound started the week on 2.0097. Could we stay over the two dollar barrier? The disappointing answer came very quickly as the pound fell to 1.9948 on Monday evening. A further drop saw the pound fall to 1.9859 on Tuesday, before recovering somewhat to achieve a closing rate of 1.9931 on Wednesday. After a day’s break it managed to achieve the best start to the year by getting back over the two dollar barrier again – this time settling on 2.0011.

Finally we have the Aussie dollar to check out. The pound started on 1.9139 on Monday before dropping to 1.9018 by the time Tuesday evening rolled around. We did then see a slight improvement to 1.9038 by Wednesday before the day off arrived. Finally there was another small loss on Friday as the pound fell back to 1.9026 against the Australian dollar.

Notable events in the world of currency

A slight improvement against the Canadian dollar

Here things were looking up as one year turned into the next. The pound went from 1.8008 against the Canadian dollar to 1.8037 on the first day of trading in 2015.

Better news against the Swiss franc too

We had some great news here as a very strong performance by the pound came into focus throughout the week. From a starting point of 1.5289 the pound improved throughout trading to end Friday evening on 1.5412.

Another good result against the Icelandic krona

Here the pound began Monday’s trading on 197.046 and ended it on Friday night with a rate of 197.548.

So there we have it – another year is over and once again we have a new year to contend with. We have just one day of trading covered here for 2015, but we can be sure there are many more to come. We shall be back next week with more information on the first full week of trading in 2015. Happy New Year!